Tour of Duty (1987-1990)

[Gaijin84]

Revisiting this show as I find the Vietnam War endlessly fascinating. Through the first five episodes and it's quite enjoyable. The series takes place in 1967, so before the Tet offensive as far as I can tell. There are some clunky acting scenes but for the most part Terence Knox is very solid as the lead character "Zeke" Anderson. They don't really dumb down the military talk so you kind of have to know the jargon to understand what they are talking about. Fair amount of guest appearances so far, including Bill Sadler, Tia Carrere and James Hong. 

If you can, watching it with the original score is a must. Paint It, Black is the opening credit song and a ton of era-appropriate music is used. Later DVD releases did not obtain the music rights and therefore substituted generic covers and atmospheric music instead.

Would be interested if anyone else has seen the series and thoughts. 

Edited September 20, 2021 by Gaijin84

[Gaijin84]

Through the second five episodes and they are taking a step backwards. There is one good episode, "Burn Baby, Burn," with an outstanding performance from Ving Rhames, but a couple of really bad episodes as well, namely episode 9 - "Battling Baker Brothers." The show was shot in Hawaii, so the locations used look similar to Vietnam in some instances, but in others stick out like a sore thumb. Hoping things start to get better in episodes 11-15.

[Gaijin84]

Slightly better episodes with two excellent ones to round out the first 15.

Ep. 14 - Under Siege is a tense, dramatic look at a firebase under attack by the VC and the conflicting goals of generals and the men on the ground. Ep .15 - Soldiers looks at a few of the men on leave in Hawaii (how convenient) and how they are treated by civilians and their fellow soldiers who are recovering in a VA hospital. Appearances by Olivia d'Abo and David Alan Grier in ep. 15.

[Gaijin84]

Final 6 episodes (16-21) are a mixed bag as well. You have some good ones, like the finale, which deals with the seemingly useless task of retaking a hill over and over no matter how many casualties are suffered. You also have some stinkers like Ep. 19 - Paradise Lost which is almost comedic-like with the troops training the Montagnards (the indigenous Vietnamese hill tribes) to use modern weapons. Although this absolutely happened during the war, the treatment of it was too casual.

Taken as a whole, I would rate the first season of Tour of Duty a 6/10. In general, the episodes dealt with real issues that took place during the war, like racial tensions between troops, drug use and addiction, re-enlistment struggles, disconnects between objectives and the reality on the ground, and permanent injuries/amputations/depression suffered by the troops. However, the writing is not strong enough to flesh out these storylines and have the emotional impact they should. The acting from a majority of the cast is also not very strong. Terence Knox is excellent in one of the main roles, but he can't make up for the rest of the cast who for the most part were unknown and relatively inexperienced actors. Some interesting early guest appearances from modern stars periodically peaked my interest. If you're looking for a TV version of Platoon or Apocalypse Now, you'll be sorely disappointed. I'll start season 2, but I won't be expecting much.